Surveillance of ground topography is well known in the art. In ground surveillance, it is highly desirable to detect whether there has been a material failure in a man-made object such as a road, a pipeline, an electrical grid, or another man-made structure of practical interest. When a structural failure is detected, proper authorities make a determination whether remedial action is necessary. Often times a land-based crew conducts a visual inspection of the ground topography to determine if there is a material failure by traversing an area by vehicle or foot. It is frequently the case that an aircraft or a satellite includes an image capture device such as a charge coupled device (CCD), complementary metal oxide semiconductor device (CMOS) or a radiation detector, such as an infrared sensitive detector. It is well known that airborne photographic systems can also be used for capturing images of adjacent areas of the ground.
When electromagnetic radiation, interacts with matter several phenomena may occur, including scattering, absorption, transmission and reflection of the electromagnetic radiation. Spectral or spectroscopic analysis includes carefully examining, analyzing, and representing the interactions involving electromagnetic radiation and matter, in an orderly fashion, as a function of wavelength, frequency, or time. During spectroscopic analysis, different materials exhibit different scattering, absorption, reflection and transmission characteristics. These distinctive characteristics are determined by the chemical and physical structure of the materials. When a set of these distinctive characteristics are determined to a given level of certainty, as with the use of known test subjects, these spectroscopic results may be referred to as reference spectral signatures or reference spectra.
Natural gas, characteristically, contains a mixture of methane, ethane, and small amounts of other gases. Gas generated by the decomposition of organic matter, henceforth, referred to as swamp gas, only contains methane. It is highly desirable for any natural gas detection method to be able to distinguish between gases released as a result of a failure in a pipeline or a holding container versus emanating swamp gases, thus avoiding false alarms.
Oil pipelines contain significant concentrations of volatile dissolved gas compounds, including methane, ethane, and propane. Oil pipelines operate under pressure; leaks and a concomitant pressure drop result in escaping volatile components, and thereby provide a means for leak detection. Electromagnetic radiation may be directed onto an area containing gas and oil pipelines by a variety of means. Commonly, lasers are used, but other means, such as antennas for radio and microwave electromagnetic energy may be used. Hereafter, when electromagnetic radiation is directed onto a test subject area is referred to as an illuminant.
In detecting failures of gas and oil pipelines there is a particular problem, as the gas or oil pipeline is typically buried beneath ground level. In such cases, it is difficult to make a direct visual assessment of any failures in the pipeline. When failures do occur, they are manifest by the leakage of the pipeline contents, the leaking material produces a characteristic trace or signal. Typically, failures in pipelines are currently determined by having personnel walk the pipeline, on a periodic and costly basis, with some means to detect the trace emanating from the pipeline.
Gases can escape a pipeline and travel through subterranean earth to the earth's surface and then into the atmosphere. Consequently, the atmosphere can be monitored for gases that have escaped the pipeline. An association of gases detected in the atmosphere with a pipeline leak may be direct or indirect. An example of a direct association is the release of specific hydrocarbon gases to the atmosphere from subsurface oil and gas pipelines. Natural gas consists of 2 primary components, methane and ethane. The mixture ratio of methane and ethane may vary.
Measurement of both components and confirmation of the appropriate concentration ratio directly establishes the presence of a pipeline leak. In this case, association is direct in that the gas components themselves are emitted into the atmosphere, albeit with a potentially modified composition.
Methane is produced from thermal or biological breakdown of coal. The gas detected (methane) is not the same as the natural resource (coal), so the term “indirect” is used to describe this association. The term “indirect association” does not imply that the scientific basis for the association is weak. The process of converting coal to methane is well described in scientific literature.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,822,742, issued on Nov. 23, 2004 to Kalayeh et al., entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTE QUANTITATIVE DETECTION OF FLUID LEAKS FROM A NATURAL GAS OR OIL PIPELINE, provides a system for remote quantitative detection of fluid leaks from a natural gas or oil pipeline by use of an airborne platform. The contents of the above referenced application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.